Apricot Glazed Pears and a Great Wine

I'm what you'd call a wine wimp. Meaning, anything "dry" is off my list. I gravitate toward the sweeter wines--the dessert wines, like Moscato and Lambrusco. So for me to find an entire VINEYARD whose wines I like is a HUGE deal. The only problem? The vineyard is in Pennsylvania, and they can't ship to Indiana (silly state has a no wine across state lines law...seriously, folks, I'm trying to help the economy here if you'd just change the law ;-).

When I was in PA visiting friends, my friend Mel, the hostess (who is a PHENOMENAL baker) served Franklin Hill Vineyards wines with dinner. DH and I loved the selections, so much that we didn't go straight home the next day (and we had an 11-hour drive home ahead of us), but instead went to the vineyard to buy a few bottles to take back to Indiana.

Tonight, I'm enjoying the last of a bottle of "Fainting Goat," a mildly sweet red with a black cherry flavor. Yummy. If you're ever in the Bangor, PA area, you have to stop by Franklin Hill Vineyards. It's worth the trip. Very hospitable people, very good wines.

(and if you happen to be driving to Indiana after that, pick me up a bottle of Fiesta, and a couple of Niagara. I'll make you carrot cake cupcakes to make it worth your while ;-).

My kids are sick here, so I decided to make some healthy food for dinners this week. I made a Tortellini Tomato soup (which I haven't had time to take a picture of...I'm not feeling so swift myself) and for dessert, I made Apricot-Glazed Pears tonight

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These were in the Rachael Ray Mag a while back. They're really simple. I had picked up Bosc pears earlier in the week for the Insalata Rustica, so I had the most important ingredient already.

[a side note: when I was a kid, we had a pear tree in our backyard. My grandpa cut it down one day (he was senile) and there went our pears. But boy, it was great to have them when the tree was there].

We're almost never without ice cream, so that was there, too [though trying to keep everyone's paws off the ice cream long enough to make this dessert was a challenge unto itself].

The recipe is here, but basically you peel the pears, cut them in half and scoop out the core. Place them facedown in a baking dish, then drizzle a mixture of half apricot preserves and half orange juice (I used fresh; just squeezed an orange) over the pears. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so. The recipe says 20-25. I found my pears (and they were just average size, nothing huge) needed about 30, 35 minutes to be totally softened.

When they're done, you serve the pear with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, then drizzle the apricot sauce from the pan on top. The recipe says to sprinkle with cinnamon--I found that was too harsh, and used a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar instead.

These were a hit with the whole family. It looks really pretty, too, so I'd recommend this for a dessert for guests, too. Another one of those "great presentation" kind of desserts.

Heck, anything with ice cream on it has great presentation, if you ask me ;-)

Shirley